255: Strategies for Answering the Toughest Interview Question

The Exclusive Career Coach

Happy Holidays! Whatever you celebrate – and whoever you have the blessing of celebrating with – I wish you Peace, Joy, Love, Laughter…and lots of good eats!

I wanted to revisit a topic I covered way back in episode #82 on how to answer the “Tell me about yourself” interview question. That episode aired on June 5th, 2019, so I thought it was time to go over how I coach my clients to answer this question.

There’s a phenomenon call the primacy effect, which states that people remember whatever came first in a sequence. There’s also the recency effect – people remember whatever came last in the sequence.

Because the “tell me about yourself” question is asked first if it is asked at all, it holds considerable weight in the interviewer’s mind. It also gives you the opportunity to start the interview off on the best possible foot.

Here’s what a lot of coaches will tell you: Tell them your work history, your strengths, why you want to work for them…they want you to make this a full-on sales pitch.

Here’s why I DON’T recommend this approach: I have interviewed hundreds of candidates over my years in higher education, and I had a structured interview process. Meaning: we asked every candidate the same questions and had a pre-determined scoring system to try to keep the evaluation process as fact-based and non-partial as possible.

Not to mention: If you provide them with your life history, it’s likely to be loooong and you might find the interviewer nodding off. Not a great start.

In a structured interview process, which most employers use (often for legal reasons), they will ask you about your strengths. They will ask you why you want to work for them. They will ask you why they should select you over the other candidates.

If you answer ALL these questions in your response to “Tell me about yourself,” you will have thrown off the cadence of the entire interview. The interviewers will have to scramble to evaluate you on questions they haven’t yet asked you.

Here’s why I ALWAYS ask the “Tell me about yourself” question: I want to see what will come out of your mouth when asked such a broad, non-specific question.

I have had candidates tell me about their abusive ex-boyfriend, their three preschool kids, their spouse’s job, what’s going on in their family of origin. Oh – and my personal favorite – how they can’t come to work when they are tired. ALL THINGS I CAN’T ASK ABOUT.

I also ask this question as a nice “soft pitch” before getting into the more technical or behavioral questions.

I am surprised by how many are completely unprepared for this question. I’m also surprised by how many people answer in a way that puts the interviewer to sleep and/or overloads them with too much information.

Here then, are my top 8 tips for developing your answer to the “tell me about yourself” question:

1. Structure your answer in a past – present – future format.

Give the interviewer a bit of information about where you came from, where you are now, and where you want to go.

2. Stay at the 40,000-foot level.

This is not the time to provide details about your accomplishments, work experience, or skills – they will ask questions about these things later.

3. Keep it to 2-3 minutes.

By staying at a 40,000-foot view and not getting into the weeds with specifics, it is easy to keep your answer to the “tell me about yourself” question to no more than 3 minutes.

This will also help the interviewer keep on track with the questions he/she wants to ask without going over time and will keep the interviewer’s interest high.

4. Introduce your brand, right up front.

If you’ve done the personal branding work I’ve talked about on other podcast episodes, you should be very aware of your personal brand.

Here’s your chance to introduce your personal brand right at the top of the interview…and reinforce it throughout the interview.

5. Provide personal information.

If the interviewer would be your new boss, he/she is going to want to get to know you as a total person.

Even if the interviewer is from HR, giving the interviewer a sense of who you really are will help him/her to decide if you would be a good fit for the available position.

The caveat here is that the personal information should be neutral or positive. Some examples:

-A foreign language you are learning

-A hobby you are passionate about (as long as it doesn’t scream death-defying danger)

-A personal goal you are working towards (such as building a home or training to run a marathon)

-A recent travel experience

What constitutes negative personal information? Here are some I’ve been given in actual job interviews:

-Number and ages of children

-Health conditions

-Marital status (recently divorced)

-The fact of, and reasons for, being recently terminated

These tips apply to the “tell me about yourself” question as well as the entire interview:

6. Pay attention to nonverbal cues.

One of the best ways to make sure you are proceeding with your answer to any interview question in the proper way is to watch for nonverbal cues from the interviewer.

Note that I’m not saying there is a “right” or “wrong” answer to an interview question. What I’m saying is that sometimes candidates misunderstand the interview question and aren’t providing the interviewer with the information he/she is looking for.

It is perfectly acceptable to stop, ask the interviewer for clarification on the question or to verify that you are providing him/her with the desired information.

7. Relax.

You may think it is impossible to relax in an interview, but I promise it will serve you well to develop this ability.

I’m not suggesting that you be so relaxed that you’re practically asleep, but rather that you aren’t so tense that you are struggling to communicate effectively and look like you are about to jump out of your own skin.

This first question is a great opportunity to you to relax into the interview so you can put forth your best effort.

8. Let your personality shine through.

Many people I have interviewed over the years were stiff, all business, and showed no sense of humor.

If you have a sense of humor – let it shine through, as long as you remain in good taste.

If you love to do nice things for your co-workers to create camaraderie and a sense of team – tell the interviewer about this.

If you are too buttoned up because you think this should be a serious affair – and you are naturally a fun and personable creature – the interviewer isn’t really getting to know you. In other words, there’s a bit of false advertising going on.

An Example

I thought I’d end with my “Tell me about yourself answer.” We’ll pretend I’m applying for a job back in higher education as Director of Career Services.

“One of the most important things to know about me is the breadth of experience, skills, and credentials I bring to the table.

“As you’ve probably already seen on my resume, I spent 10 years as Director of the Career Center at Columbus State University, followed by 12 years in the same role at Truman State University. At Columbus State, I led efforts to separate career services from the Counseling Center and became the new entity’s first Director. In that capacity, I created the university’s cooperative education program, which was successful enough to be able to hire a full-time co-op coordinator the next year.

“At Truman, I took a career center that was underutilized and underwhelming into a highlight of the university – touted in admissions material and to employers and donors. When I was hired, my boss told me that if I could turn the Career Center at Truman into a showpiece for the university, I would have worked a miracle. When he left Truman for another university, he told me I had worked a miracle.

In 2012, I left higher education to work in my practice full-time. In this capacity, I have worked with clients on all continents except Antarctica on resume writing, LinkedIn profiles, job search strategy, interview techniques, salary negotiations, and career management.

I am one of 23 Master Resume Writers in the world, and a Certified Job Search Strategist, Certified Executive and Leadership Development Coach, and Master Practitioner of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

While I have loved owning my own business, I am excited about the prospect of leading a team again – and being part of a team as well. I am motivated to help each team member reach their full potential and create a team that is cohesive and engaged.

On a personal note, I am an avid reader and love to listen to true crime podcasts. I have two hound dogs who love to take me for walks.”

Time: 1:50

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